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Paterno believes Big Ten expansion is coming
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State football coach Joe Paterno believes expansion is imminent in the Big Ten Conference.
"I think expansion is coming," Paterno said today on a Big Ten coaches' teleconference. "Now, in what form? There's a lot of talk about the Pac-10 getting two or more teams in their conference. I'm not privy to that ...
"I think the trend is there are going to be bigger conferences. I think there are going to be 12-, 14-team conferences and maybe even 16-team conferences. Do I know what I'm talking about, who knows?
"It would appear to me that with the television situation what it is and the great impact that it has on exposure and what that exposure does to recruiting, we're naive to think ... we can sit back and see everybody else move ahead because they're going to move ahead. We better start thinking about where we're going."
Paterno, 83, said he would like to see a team from the East be part of the Big Ten's expansion plans, although he didn't mention the names of any schools.
"When all this happens, I'll probably be out of this thing," he said. "I'd like to see our particular conference move East a little bit. It would give us a little broader television market and a little more exposure and if we had 12 teams we'd have a chance to get into some kind of championship [game].
"Whether that means you go 12 [teams] or you go 14. I don't know. I don't know all the consequences."
First Published April 13, 2010 2:51 pm
